"Huh?" Alya slacked back in her chair.
The panicked man shuffled through the crowd, towards her. "The red-sun... Something's wrong with it!"
———
Alya ran to the center of the province, but even from afar, she could see that something was wrong with it as it stretched into the sky
'Crap!' She rose her left hand up and pressed the fingers of the other hand into it. Her left arm glowed slightly purple as she started pulling out something from inside it. Pulling continuously as the object reached the length of a teenager, Alya pulled out her weapon, boarded it and flew towards the crystal.
The crystal's bright red colour was almost completely eaten away by the darkness that crawled progressively upwards. Alya got to it, but there was nothing she could do.
"What's wrong with this hunk o' junk?" She frowned as she flew around it. It didn't take long before she suddenly heard a voice coming from the other side of the giant gem.
"Wait! I– I can fix this!" A man who saw her looking at him pleaded.
'?' She saw her sister's best friend, Imran tapping vigorously on a laptop he somehow connected to the gigantic crystal.
She lowered herself down to the boy on the floor.
Imran looked like someone who was going through severe mental issues. The buttons on his shirt were mostly loose, his hair was ruffled, his body was extremely sweaty as his wet clothes clung to his shaking body.
" ...What are you doing?"
"I can fix it... I can fix it!" Imran continued tapping the keys on his laptop.
Alya turned her eyes to the wires connected to a machine that was in turn, attached to the crystal. "Where did you get this equipment from?"
"..."
"Get a grip, punk!" Alya had reached the limit of her patience. She grabbed his collar and lifted him into the air, making the boy yelp as his laptop fell on the floor.
Alya slapped his face, holding back as much strength as she could, however, Imran's behaviour was really annoying her, so when her palm touch his face, it drew out blood.
"What's wrong!" She yelled at his face again.
Imran brought his head slowly to look into her eyes. "It... It tricked me. I thought it just wanted someone to spar with and keep it company but, it was stealing the life force from that stream instead. And now... It's going to kill us... It'll kill us all!"
Alya turned her head down to the water that moved from the faraway mountains and spread throughout the province. She then looked back at Imran who had his hands on his head. He had really lost it.
But considering the amount of danger they would soon be in, Imran's behaviour was not exaggerated in the slightest.
"It?" She asked.
"Sorbo! The demon, Sorbo!"
The black colour had now fully enclosed the crystal and soon started to expand out of it.
———
Yenn pulled both Nova and Asher out of the water and rested their backs on the ground. Nova was breathing rhythmically, she was asleep while Asher's body had mostly finished healing, only his left leg was left.
However soon, his body suddenly started to spasm as it glowed blue. Noticing that the undine's soul his body was 'digesting' was being sucked into the lake, Yenn panicked.
"Stop!" She stretched out her hands as if trying to catch the intangible blue mist, but she couldn't. She couldn't use her [special] skill just like she had just now as it was something that just happened without command.
So she could do nothing, but watch as Asher's condition started to worsen again. She stared at her shaking hands, trying to activate her ultimate once more. "Come on." Just a tiny bit would allow her to be able to feel the soul again and pull it back.
Alas, the last thread was drawn from his body.
"Tch!" To her surprise, Yenn suddenly heard a sound coming from below her. As she looked, she saw Asher's index finger and thumb holding onto the tiny thread of blue soul before it completely entered the water.
Yenn's eyes opened wide as she stared at Asher's body.
#If you wanna steal from someone... I'm the worst choice, you bum!#
'Asher' suddenly jumped to his feet and pulled back the thread of blue soul into his mouth.
BANG
Like a gun, his left feet practically shot out from his knees as it grew instantly.
He turned his head to the woman sitting on the floor, looking at him dazedly. But a second later and he jumped off in the opposite direction of the lake. # There's trouble brewing in that direction kid, and if you wanna die by sticking around, then be my guest!#
Snapping out of her daze, Yenn picked up Nova's body and ran after the Old Man.
"Hey! I don't want to go too fast and hurt Nova, so just use the teleporter already!" Yenn yelled as she ran behind the Old Man.
#That thing?# The Old Man looked back at Yenn. # Even if I did know how to use it, I won't. My kid's body is in too much of a bad shape.#
Yenn frowned as they entered the swamplands, the Sully province.
"... Hey Ancy... Why are we following these guys again?" Buster asked his partner as they looked at the people behind them.
Ancy's head dripped with nervous sweat. 'If I explain to him that's it's because that place is in danger, he's just going to charge in without thinking.'
She looked at the man with black hair. For some reason, he was wearing a long black shirt that went just below his knees. His eyes looked tired too and his muscles seemed to be shaking in pain. If there was something that could leave this trio of monsters in this state, running for their life, then it was definitely something that would need thorough planning to beat and not Buster's straightforward punch to punch approach.
#GAH! I can't take this anymore!# The Old Man yelled. He suddenly jumped and attached himself to Buster's back. #You look like you could go faster, go!#
"Hm? If I did that, I'd be leaving them behind won't I? I don't wanna." Buster answered without looking back.
#Curses! This isn't working. At this rate, I'm really going to die.#
Buster suddenly stopped running, as if something the Old Man said had gotten to him.
#Huh?# Noticing that they weren't moving, the Old Man slapped Buster's head.
"Where do you want to go?" Buster asked.
#I don't got time to explain that. Just stop when I tell you to.#
"Hey Ancy." Buster called out as he bit his thumb, drawing blood from it. "If something happens, call me."
His blood suddenly exploded into crimson flames. Buster then controlled the flames to gather under his legs and soon shot into the sky like a super speed jet.
#Hahaha! Eat fart you slowpokes!#
"What was that about?"
"... Beats me." Ancy shrugged.
———
The gigantic crystal in Ogmore was gone, replaced by an even bigger black ball, however, that ball also began to increase its size.
"Dammit! I can't just sit here." Alya flew to the sky and descended with her weapon overhead, about to land a massive swing on the black sphere.
"No, stop!" Imran yelled. However, Alya's fury couldn't be leashed by someone like him.
BOOM!!!
As soon as her weapon hit, the sphere shook as ripples danced down from the point of impact. It was like the sphere had redirected her attack to the ground because of its oval shape. But no. In reality, it had done something worse.
In a brief instant, the shiny black sphere seemed to turn even darker and tougher than before. It was like a mass of rubber previously, but now its surface felt like hard stone.
"What the–?" Seeing as her attack had no effect, Alya retreated.
"Physical attacks only make it tougher, while energy attacks make it stronger. So all we can do is to evacuate the citizens to the temple to keep them from harm. We can't beat it."
"Tch!" Alya made an annoyed sound. She grabbed Imran's collar and zoomed off to the huge manor at the end of the province, the castellan's home.
Moments later and Alya appeared before a black gate. There were no security guards, but Alya knew not to barge in, lest she wanted to get seriously bruised by the protection dome surrounding the place.
"Speak." A feminine sound came from beside the gate, from a brown pillar.
"I am Alya Bladefield of the Agni-clan."
"I know who you are Alya. Is there anything you need?"
Following the indifferent voice behind the speaker, Alya answered, "The creature of the red-sun gem is awakening. And before it manages to do any harm to the good citizens of Ogmore, I beseech the castellan's help to put an end to its growth."
If Nebula were here, she'd probably spit out blood from hearing how fancy Alya was talking. But Alya didn't get to be a captainship candidate for the white ranks with just brute strength.
Truthfully though, Alya just took on this manner of speech when she was excited.
"... Haa~" The voice in the speaker sighed at her tone. Was she going for her birthday party?
'Like father like daughter.'
"Hold on."
Alya nodded.
For a while, the voice behind the speaker was quiet, as she relayed Alya's message to the castellan.
Soon though, her indifferent sounding voice breached the pillar again. "I assume you already know what to do, don't you? Or is this report just a formality?"
"It is not." Alya's lips slowly curved into a blood hungry smile. "I just came to ask the old man if he wanted a piece of it."
Just as Imran was wondering if these two conversing women even knew how big of a threat that THING was, Alya pulled his collar.
"Tell him I'm coming for his monument." She left a few more words as she shot back to the city.
In the castellan's manor, Kisha turned her head back to the blonde haired man sitting on his chair and polishing a katana sword.
"Sorbo?" The man asked, prompting a nod from Kisha.
"But your daughter, she seems excited. Does she know how you beat that slime?" She asked.
Continuing to shine his sword traditionally, William answered, "If I beat it then it wouldn't be coming back to life right now. Those types of monsters need a special blade to fully get rid of. But unfortunately for us, those blades have been broken and buried a long long time ago."
Kisha went to pick up more bladed weapons to shine beside him.
———
#Ah! Choo!#
In a trail of red cutting across the sky, a man sneezed on the head of his 'ride'.
#Your hair's itchy, guy. You should take care of it more.# He wiped his nose.
Were those superstitions about sudden sneezes right? Or did the Old Man just not like Buster's hot head?